Fix It Friday - How do you repair lace?

I'm a little stuck so I'm throwing this question out there - how do you fix lace? It seems more complicated than patching!

The story behind it

A couple of weeks back, a friend from the yarnbombing community was contacted by someone who needed to give-away lots of scrap fabrics. When I mean lots, it was really a LOT. A few of us went to visit and realised his grandmother, an avid quilter, was very ill and that she no longer had the strength to continue with her passion. I found it very sad as some of the things were extremely pretty even though they are scraps. She had a lot of vintage fabrics, many of which were off-cuts or taken from garments. It was a treasure trove! 

There were some gorgeous things we found, including a piece of cotton lace. Let me know if you know a technique that can fix this baby!

Fix It Friday - How do you repair lace?

I'm a little stuck so I'm throwing this question out there - how do you fix lace? It seems more complicated than patching!

The story behind it

A couple of weeks back, a friend from the yarnbombing community was contacted by someone who needed to give-away lots of scrap fabrics. When I mean lots, it was really a LOT. A few of us went to visit and realised his grandmother, an avid quilter, was very ill and that she no longer had the strength to continue with her passion. I found it very sad as some of the things were extremely pretty even though they are scraps. She had a lot of vintage fabrics, many of which were off-cuts or taken from garments. It was a treasure trove! 

There were some gorgeous things we found, including a piece of cotton lace. Let me know if you know a technique that can fix this baby!

Refashion it 50s

During my secondary school days, my favourite day was Wednesdays. It was the day I had the whole flat to myself after school, and it was when I would put the record player on full blast and not only belt out, but dance to the West Side Story songs - don't you just love Leonard Bernstein? The most memorable scene for me is when the Shark Girls dance to "America". 

I love the twirly dresses of the 50s, and it just so happens I have this size 14 polka dot dress from the Fashion Revolution Day clothes swop. I was going to adjust the bust and waist to make it fit me, but in the end, I cut the dress in half and made a twirly 50s skirt!  Will be wearing this at tomorrow's Halloween party and at the Singapore Environment Council vintage-themed party! I'm ready to Mambo!  

I purchased a 2.5" black elastic band and sewed it together to fit my waist line.

The tricky bit was fitting all the fabric from the new skirt into the elastic. I needed a lot of pins to pin the skirt into place. The key is to ensure that you have the seams of the skirt on opposing sides pinned down first before working on the centres and then quarters. As the elastic band fitted my waist and secondly because the waistline of the dress was much larger, I did not need to stretch the elastic band whilst sewing. 

With the top part of the dress, I was thinking of a bikini top, but then realised I am never going to wear it! So, I ended up making pockets - very useful for us ladies!

Each pocket was made from one bust of the top. The bust was folded in half to create a pocket!  I then carefully ripped the seams at the side of the skirt and inserted the pockets. I handsewed the pockets instead of using the machine.

I'm ready to twirl! I'll show you the pics of me wearing it after the party :-)

New Thrift Store in Town!

The demonstrations in Hong Kong and the resulting Government's response disturbed me a great deal. We really aren't sure how it will pan out. Although we are miles away in Singapore, we have family and friends there  - some supported Occupy Central, some didn't. We respect what others think, but what was very disheartening was the response from the Government. I won't go into details (there is just too much to write about though you can read this really good summary), but my question is "How can anyone trust a Government if it does not serve and protect its citizens (no matter which side they are on)?" and "Why all the dirty tactics?"

So, as you can imagine, I was literally glued to the computer and TV for updates. It was very difficult to discern what was the truth. Basically, I felt the whole city had regressed ...... So, last week, well, I didn't do much, I was actually feeling terrible. I had a good cry in front of a friend and got a hug. In fact, I needed a break - I tried to do some sewing, but couldn't do concentrate. 

The following Saturday I helped out with the Youth Corps Singapore and Ground Up Initiative with the opening of the Something Old, Something New thrift store. The Youth Corps were tasked to enhance the public's awareness of the store, and put together programme for the launch. We had woodwork, games and even juggling! I had a great time teaching kids how to upcycle clothes - we had a whole bag of pre-loved garments, and most of the kids sewed them into bags.  They had a lot patience, and it was a great way to take my mind off the protests.  

Something Old Something New is located at Block 106, Yishun Ring Road near Chong Pang. So after doing some thrifting you can pop over to Chong Pang for some yummy food!

Here are a few snap shots:

This girl made her bag from a pyjama sleeve before she went to try out some juggling!

Something Old, Something New is located at Blk 106, Yishun Ring Road

Two brothers sewing a stuffed toy

Trying out woodwork

The other sleeve became another bag for this girl.

Try to get the ball out of this maze!

My Top 5 Thrifting & Refashioning Tips!

I was on an upcycling streak this weekend .... I made some mini t-shirt slipper keychains! They are mini version of the t-shirt slipper I had blogged about 2 years ago (has it been that long?).  Let me tell you that the mini version was a lot easier than the life-sized version and it took me less than an hour to make one.

Then the week started off really well with Sheri from Confessions of a Refashionista featuring me and my top 5 thrifting & refashioning tips. Are you curious? Pop over to read them!  Thank you to Sheri for the lovely feature - really Iike how it turned out.

New2U Thrift Store

Whenever I go thrifting I always go to the MINDS Thrift Store near my home, but last Thursday, I decided to go to New2U Thrift Shop at Waterloo Street, Bras Brasah. It is located inside the premises of Singapore Council of Women's Organisations (SCWO).

The store is slightly smaller than the MINDS store I frequent, but the choice and range of preloved goods is bigger! Compared with the Salvation Army thrift stores, New2U is very affordable, and prices really do start from SGD1!!  The store is manned by volunteers and proceeds go to SCWO's initiatives.